Game-board.



Patented Dec. 4, |900.

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l HHHIIIINVHHIIIN NrTED STATES PATENT Grrrcn.

JAMES N. WHITMAN, OF NEW YORK', N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO EDWARD I. HORSMAN, OF SAME PLACE.

GAME-BOARD.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 663,249, dated December 4.-, 1900.

Application filed October 4, 1899. Serial No. 732,459. (No model.)

To a/ZZ whom, it may con/cern:

Be it known that I, JAMES N. WHITMAN, a citizen of the United States, residing in the borough of Brooklyn, in the city and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Game-Boards,of which the following is a specification. K

The subject of the present invention is an improved game apparatus in which a series of correspondingly-shaped recesses are located at the different positions, a series of appropriate pieces being adapted to serve in connection therewith and each having both of its ends shaped to t any of said recesses, both end faces of the pieces differing to adapt them by reversal to serve for a different game or for a different condition or quality of the pieoes, the whole arrangement admitting of the pieces being securely retained at any of the positions to expose either end for any desired length of time during the progress of the game or any period of suspension. A suitable cover permits the entire apparatus to be indiscriminately carried in the pocket or otherwise without disturbing the definite' positions of the pieces.`

The invention is especially adapted for the long and much used games of chess and checkers and will be described as thus applied.

The men are cylindrically-surfaced pieces of boxwood or other suitable material possessing a fair proportion of the quality of fractional or tractional resistance to rubbing, shaped at both ends to fit int-o any one of the recesses of the board, and into one end of each is inlaid a clearly-presented device distinguishing one from another. For chess these inlaid ends will present the castles, bishops, knights, and pawns and a king and queen for each of the two players, distinguished apart as to the players by the colors or shades of the bodies, as usual. For playing checkers all the men are inverted, so as to present the plain end uppermost, it being generally preferable to avoid the disturbin gelect of the now meaningless chess-marks; but these marks serve useful in checkers to distinguish the kings by simply turning the pieces over. The men have in my experiments been made over three-eighths of an inch in diameter and` the same in length.

The board is compound, composing a plane .board A and provided with a rim B.

plate, perforated, about an eighth of an inch in thickness, a second plane plate, which may be of less thickness, lying under the tirst and having a raised edge or border extending up somewhat above the face of the first, and a cover formed like the cover of an ordinary rectangular box to match over and inclose whole.

The accompanying drawings form a part of this specification and represent what l consider the best means of carrying out this invention.

Figure 1 is a face View of the closed apparatus with a portion broken endwise to reveal the interior, the men being set in condition proper for playing chess. Fig. 2 is a corresponding longitudinal section on line 2 2 in Fig. l. Figs. 3 and 4 are cross-sections showing the men applied in the inverted positions proper for playing checkers. Fig. 5 isa crosssection on line 3 3, Fig. 1, with the cover underneath, the whole conditioned for playing.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the figures where they appear.

A is a main board, a the series of holes bored or otherwise uniformly produced and evenly spaced therein corresponding to the several squares of a chess or checker board, and a a another series at the end of the board of similar size and form to receive and hold the men which have been captured by each side, respectively. The board A is printed in squares on the upper side to serve as a chess or checker board.

B is a plane board of size corresponding to A, printed in squares corresponding to the The board A is cemented or otherwise rigidly secured in the box-like space over the board B,

inclosed by the rim B. The game is played by shifting the men in the several holes a and placing the captured men in the holes a'. The rim B is of such height as to extend toa plane about coinciding with the upper facesthe faces presented to the eye-of the several men.

M represents the men.

C is a slightly-larger board having a rim C', adapted to serve the double functions of a cover for the box-like apparatus, comprising the main board A, with its holes and men and bottom board and rim B, and a Iirrn holder IOO - appearance.

for the several men. Vhen a game is being played, the part C C may be beneath, Ywith its rim extending upward. When the game is ended or for any reason itis desired to stop for a long or short time atv any stage of the game, the parts C C are placed in the reversed position over the other parts. In this position it presses uniformly on the tops of all the nien and holds them,so that by snapping an elastic band around the whole or otherwise holding the parts together -the whole may be transported and without disturbance of the mutual relations. On placing thegapparatus again right side up and removing the cover C C and reversing it underneath the whole is again in condition for playing. It presents a neat and attractive The wear is small. The pieces or men M remain inside in the several holes a and ct', as desired, and are removed therefrom either by a direct thrust and a direct pull or by a slightly turning or screw motion. Either way will allow smooth cylindrical holes to receive and liberate smooth cylindrical pieces without appreciable change of tightness for a long period. The fit of the top plate Con the upper ends of the several men holds all reliably in place, even if one or more of the men should by any inaccuracy of manufacture or other chance be looser than would be preferred.

D is a fairly stout elastic band to hold the whole in the closed condition.

The inlaid ends of the several men are produced by boring ashallow hole in the bottom and pressing down in each previously-printed disks of Celluloid. The grain of the wood should run lengthwise of the men in order that the thin rim at the inlaid end shall have sucient strength.

Modifications may be made without departing from the principle or sacrificing the advantages of the invention. The interior of the holes in the black squares may be blackened, so that however obliquely viewed the entire square will be black; but this is not absolutely essential. I propose usually to make the main board A of stout millboard or other style of paper-stock of firm texture with a top surface of firm and well-sized paper and to produce the holes 0. and' a' by punching with uniform and accurately-fitted punches on an exactly-fitted die, the punching being always from t-he face side, so that there will be a slight depressing of the paper material immediately adjacent to each hole aand a to' `approximating that of the marginal iiange,

and a cover for retainingthe men against withdrawal from the recesses they occupy, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the invention above set forth I afiX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JAMES N. WHITMAN.

Witnesses:

C. Al WEED, J. B. OLAUTIcE. 

